Pubdate: Tue, 27 May 2008 Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL) Copyright: 2008 Sarasota Herald-Tribune Contact: http://www.heraldtribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/398 Author: Nathan J. Robinson DEFENSE CAN'T BW PROSECUTOR'S PUPPET The recent pedestrian/sidewalk-law issue has thankfully highlighted some of the racial discrimination that permeates our local justice system. However, I believe that there is an even more insidious problem awaiting poor blacks who seek equal treatment under the law. I speak of Ron Filipkowski's campaign for public defender. Filipkowski has signs up all over Sarasota pledging to "end the revolving door system," and his campaign pamphlets pledge that he will be "a leader who will fight to prevent crime." These are the slogans of a prosecutor, not a defense attorney. In a racially discriminatory criminal justice system like ours, the public defender's office is the last refuge for poor defendants to try to receive fair treatment, and Filipkowski threatens to turn the defense into a puppet of the prosecution. If the man is elected and puts into action his plan to lead the fight against drug abuse, to whom will minority defendants turn? Certainly not to Filipkowski. Those who have been subject to unlawful searches, especially those minority defendants who have suffered under police discrimination, will be forced to put their faith in an anti-drug crusader in order to fight their drug-possession convictions. Filipkowski would be a disaster for defendants. Nathan J. Robinson, Sarasota - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom